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Fake work visas

Fake work visas

What you need to know about fake work visas in South Africa

26 September 2022

You might have obtained your work visa recently and second-guessing whether your visa is valid or not, this is a tricky situation to be in. There are many people out there who pretend to be immigration consultants or immigration lawyers only to scam you and issue you with a fake visa. The worst is being arrested or being detained in South Africa for something that you are not responsible and the Department of Home Affairs is coming down hard on these individuals.

Many who don’t qualify for the critical skills are always looking at applying for the general work visa for South Africa and thus one of the most popular options to forge it because of how difficult it is to obtain it. While this could be true many temporary residence visas are forged throughout South Africa.

Beware of people who guarantee you a visa, as no one in this industry can do that, not even the most experienced immigration consultant or immigration lawyer. There has been news of many immigration consultants who have promised people a visa and blackmailed immigration officials to approve these cases. Be careful of which services you make use of and always apply due diligence. The South African Department of Home Affairs will hold you accountable for any forged documents.

If you are considering applying for temporary visas then you need to ensure that you are making use of professional services. If you wondering how much does a work visa cost in South Africa. We created a blog post in detail about the cost.

Many foreigners are working without a work visa in South Africa.

We have created a handy guide for you to read and to keep close, we would advise that you bookmark this blog post so that you can always reference it back and forth when you need the information.

Is my work visa fake?

Table of Contents

Is my work visa fake?

How do I know if my work visa is real?

How do I check if my work visa is valid?

You can use the following methods to verify:
I would recommend keeping the following proof:
Which visas can be obtained fraudulently?

So when can you be arrested in SA?
What to do if you are arrested with a fraudulent visa?

So currently there are two ways that a work visa can be forged and it’s important to understand the differences. Once you understand the different methods of fraudulent ways then you have a starting point to investigate from.

A work visa can be forged to look like a real visa, but this has not been printed and entered into the Department of Home Affairs system. So there is no record that it has been issued and details of your particulars.
Another way of obtaining a “visa” is through a corrupt Home Affairs official who you pay to illegally issue you a visa. The visa is entered onto DHA’s systems but your application has not been screened against the requirements.

How do I know if my work visa is real?

If you made use of an agency or person to get your visa and are worried if its a fraudulent visa then there are certain things you can look at with regards to the visas:

The words used on the visa would differ from the standard wording on a legally obtained visa.
There will be colour variations between a fraudulent and legally obtained visa.
The fonts would be different.
Your particulars would not be stored or listed on the Department of Home Affairs systems.
Extremely high fees to get the visa.

Furthermore, there are more important things you can take into consideration if your visa is fraudulent:

If the person representing you has not requested you to submit your application through VFS then this is a major red flag. All applicants in South Africa are required to submit their applications through VFS.

You are not allowed to apply for a change of status in SA meaning that if you are on a visit visa then you cannot apply for a work visa.

Have yourself assessed with an alternative immigration agency to find out if you qualify

If you are paying a home affairs official to get your visa, then you would be held responsible when caught and can face deportation or imprisonment.

Our advice is that it’s better to go the legal route, even though it might take longer and not as quick as you would like. The immigration agent or lawyer can tell you immediately if you qualify or what you need to do to qualify.

How do I check if my work visa is valid?

There are various ways you can check if your work visa is valid in South Africa but you have to tread carefully as the Department of Home Affairs will hold you accountable for this in which you could be banned, fined or imprisoned. Therefore it is in your best interest to check if the person assisting you has a registered business, registered for tax and VAT.

You can use the following methods to verify:

Email the verifications department: VisaVerifications.Missions@dha.gov.za
Call the verifications department: 012 406 – 4432
Walk into the Department of Home Affairs to find out from an immigration officer.

When making use of a representative to apply on your behalf we recommend that you keep a trail of paperwork and any communication. This is the best way so that you have proof if ever you are arrested and detained, in this way a lawyer can represent you which you would have proof.

Before you apply make sure that you have applied your due diligence to the person representing you.

I would recommend keeping the following proof:

Email trails
Record all phone calls
Keep invoices
Record all in-person meetings

The more proof you have the better and keep these in a safe place where they are easily accessible should you need them in future.

We recommend that corporate businesses verify an applicants work visa as they can be held accountable for employing a foreign national with fraudulent papers.

Accompanying spouses in South Africa must apply for their own independent work visa as they are not allowed to work whilst on a dependent visa. There is no such thing as a accompanying spouse work visa in South Africa.

Which visas can be obtained fraudulently?

General Work Visas
Spouse Visas
Life Partner Visas
Study Visas
Retirement Visas
Critical Skills Visas
Corporate Visas
Intra-company transfer visas
Relatives visas
Permanent residence visas

So when can you be arrested in SA?

The South African immigration act mentions the following when you are considered to be in contravention of the act:

In possession of a fraudulent or fake visa
Expired visa
Not adhering to the conditions of your visa.
Not in possession of a visa

The experience of being arrested in SA is not a good one and therefore always ensure that you are on the right side of the law. You will never be asked to show your papers but immigration officers have the right to request to see them at any given time. Remember that if you are committing a crime in any sense, you will be imprisoned.

The best thing to do is always keep your passport and visa with you wherever you go and have a telephone or mobile number of someone you can call in SA preferably in the same town as you to help you if you are arrested. We would advise that you beforehand give the person a copy of your passport bio page, visa stamps, contact details for a family member back in your country of residence. The last thing I recommend is giving the person the details of your embassy or consulate in SA to assist you.

What to do if you are arrested with a fraudulent visa?

The South African government together with DHA are cracking down on fraudulent visas and when caught you will be locked up immediately. Our advice does not to try and fight the police or officials and don’t be abusive towards them either. You will be taken to the nearest police station and you will be kept separate.

Call a family member to let them know you’ve been arrested.
Ask them to hire an attorney
Instruct your family member on how to get access to your funds should the need arise

Contact SA Migration if you need us to verify your visa and we can assist you with our immigration services. We are more than happy to discuss with you how we can assist you throughout and how we can obtain it the legal way forward.

Email: rod@sami.co.za
Web Sites : www.sami.co.za

Home affairs has dropped central adjudication of visas, after months of complaints

Home affairs has dropped central adjudication of visas, after months of complaints

Business Insider SA -26 September 2022

The department of home affairs has reversed a decision to centralise the adjudication of long-term visas.

That plan lasted for only a couple of months, and did not go at all well.
Embassies – previously accused of sometimes endangering national security or harming the economy – are now back in charge.

As of 1 September, South Africa is no longer centralising the adjudication of long-term visas, the department of home affairs (DHA) confirmed on Tuesday.

That brings to an end a fraught six-month period for those who applied for such visas, previously handled by individual South African missions abroad, and makes consular officials responsible again for deciding who is let in to South Africa

Visa specialists first noted the reversal on the weekend, saying it expected an announcement from the department on the transitional arrangement for visas already in process.

The DHA told Business Insider South Africa only that it "did issue a new directive which came into effect on Thursday 01 September 2022". It did not provide a copy of the directive, despite repeated requests, and has made no public statement on the matter.

Extreme delays in issuing such visas – with delays facilitation companies described as unprecedented – have been a significant headache for foreign companies investing and doing business in South Africa, Business Leadership SA CEO Busisiwe Mavuso told the News24 On The Record conference on Thursday, the same day the reversal came into effect.

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Those affected have included companies that signed up to President Cyril Ramaphosa's investment drive, but have since said delays nearing a year in processing work visas for critical foreign staff meant they could not start work.

Some companies expressed acute frustration because they could find no way to reach a department official who could provide even a vague prediction of how long a visa would take – or who could even confirm that a visa application had been accepted as properly lodged – making it impossible to plan moves for employees who needed to secure places in schools for children and move their households across oceans.

Until Thursday, all work visa applications with a duration of more than three months had to be sent to Pretoria for a decision by the director general of the DHA, in an effort to create consistency – and prevent corruption. Visa facilitators said missions were told the DHA was concerned about reports of arbitrary demands for documents, with the implication that these were subtle solicitations for bribes. They were also told that only central decision-making could balance the need for national security with the need to allow foreign investors to move with speed.

But centralisation was a disaster. Visas that previously took between four and eight weeks to issue suddenly took a minimum of 12 weeks – and consultants reported that the reality was closer to eight months.

Their clients, those consultants said, could not wait that long, and would simply take their business to another country.

Visa facilitation companies believe the consular service divisions of missions – still fully staffed to process visas – may now be able to bring turnaround times down to as low as two weeks.

www.samigration.com

ZEP extension doesn't cure defects in deciding to end permit

ZEP extension doesn't cure defects in deciding to end permit

News 24 – 22 September 2022

There's wide speculation on why the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit was extended, writes the author.

The extension of the ZEP to next year, while potentially holding out some relief to individual ZEP holders cure the fundamental defects in the Minister’s decision to end the permit, and so the court action continues, writes Nicole Fritz.

Earlier this month Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, extended the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) for a further six months, now to terminate on 30 June 2023.

Despite that extension, the legal challenge to the decision to end the ZEP continues. Before setting out why that must be so, it is worth exploring some of the broader contextual issues. This is not a case which implicates all foreign migrants or even all Zimbabwean migrants who reside in South Africa unlawfully.

It concerns only those approximately 178 000 ZEP holders who have lived in South Africa for well over a decade, doing so by scrupulously observing our laws – making a formal application, paying fees, obtaining police clearance, and providing supporting documentation each and every time this special dispensation system has been renewed.

Migrants are not the cause of our unemployment, poverty, crime or healthcare crisis. But even if there were some truth to this notion, it is hard to see why we would address the issue by targeting that small section of migrants who have built their lives here in a perfectly legal fashion.

It is worth recalling that the ZEP, in its original formulation, the Dispensation for Zimbabwe Project, was devised and offered in 2008/9 in the aftermath of horrific election-related violence in Zimbabwe as hundreds of thousands fled, streaming into South Africa.

It was set up in recognition that our migrant reception systems would be overwhelmed, that we needed to safely track and record those entering the country in our own security interests and the prohibitive expense of repeated detentions and deportations led to its implementation.

Remarkable solidarity

It is worth recalling too, that at the time, ordinary South Africans showed Zimbabweans remarkable solidarity – trade unions, faith-based communities, civil society responding with extraordinary grace and compassion, even as our official government line was that of the Zimbabwean crisis there was little to see.

Of course, South Africans' own welfare has plummeted in the intervening fifteen years, and we may feel our largesse more constrained. But the rhetoric of some newly arrived political actors insisting they capture South Africans' sentiments – that Zimbabweans must simply swallow their suffering and not make their problems ours – stands in such sharp contrast to our response then that we must wonder how accurate it is.

There is now some speculation that the reason for this most recent six-month extension is that it is a sop to Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF: delaying the return of those who fled its murderous policies until after the next elections, scheduled fo April 2023, means they cannot vote against ZANU.

I find that speculation, assuming as it does such deeply cynical calculation, hard to credit. But it does bring us to this third contextual issue. The limitations of our human rights system are most glaringly exposed when we talk about migrants. That system is based on the idea of an effective state authority willing to promote and respect the rights of those within its territory and protect the rights of its nationals beyond its territory.

The Zimbabwean government, composed of the ruling ZANU-PF, is a gross distortion of that idea. Its policies and conduct put huge numbers of Zimbabweans to flight, and the idea that it would now genuinely act to secure their interests is fanciful. ZEP holders turn in the wind: facing a receiving state that says "time's up, you must go" and a sending state that essentially chased them away.

It is that liminal condition that makes them so vulnerable. They are precisely among those categories to which former Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson referred when he explained that the purpose of judicial review – the type of challenge now being brought against the ZEP termination – "was to protect the rights of minorities and others who cannot protect their rights adequately through the democratic process. Those who are entitled to claim this protection include the social outcasts and marginalised people of our society. It is only if there is a willingness to protect the worst and the weakest among us, that all of us can be sure that our own rights will be protected."

'Blackmailing the nation'

And yet approaching the courts in this matter has elicited a searingly sharp, scornful response from government.

Motsoaledi has accused us, a party bringing the challenge, of seeking to "blackmail the nation" and warned darkly of a "dictatorship of some NGOs" who "seek the dislodgement of the government of the day." But court process, of course, is precisely not an avenue by which to secure dictatorship or dislodgement: it is the means by which we peacefully settle disputes in a constitutional democracy.

The extension of the ZEP to 30 June 2023, while potentially holding out some relief to individual ZEP holders, does not, in our view, cure the fundamental defects in the Minister’s decision to end the permit, and so the court action continues. The primary defect, not remedied by the extension, is that these decisions have been taken without any form of public consultation whatsoever – no prior notice, no calls for representations from affected ZEP holders, no notice and comment process, no public inquiries and no meaningful engagement with civil society. This flies in the face of the most basic tenets of procedural fairness and ensures an uninformed decision.

The extension also fails to demonstrate any more compelling reasons in support of the decision to end the ZEP than was the case before the extension was granted and, without more, it doesn’t genuinely offer ZEP holders any greater an opportunity to migrate to other visas or secure individual waivers and exemptions and so regularise their status.

Some last points need to be made about the motivation for this legal challenge. It is brought unapologetically in the interests of ZEP holders who have lived in South Africa entirely lawfully for well over a decade and have contributed to this country in myriad ways.

At the very least, they deserve to be heard and consulted ahead of any potential decision imposing such magnitude of harm on them. How much more vulnerable are all of us South Africans if decisions having such enormously prejudicial impact, can be made without first consulting those directly impacted.

No data

But this legal challenge is also brought in the interests of South Africans in a more fundamental way. Very little reason has been proffered by the Department for the decision to terminate the ZEP.

In fact, in an about-turn, it now says that it made no decision. It simply allowed the ZEP to lapse, and so essentially, it needs no reason. But without reason, without hard data supporting this decision, we have no way of assessing whether it is net positive or net negative for South Africa.

Do we know how many ZEP-holders run small businesses employing South Africans? How many pay tax and so contribute to revenue collection and service provision? How many teach South African children Maths and Science? How many pay rent contributing to South African livelihoods?

The Minister has vaguely gestured to unemployment and crime at different points as some sort of justification. But there's no data to support such reasons, and in their legal papers, the department appears wisely to have abandoned such explanation. Bad decisions taken by government – decisions without considered reason and deliberation – impact us negatively even if we are not the direct targets. They consume finite resources, human and financial. But in South Africa right now, confronted as we are by huge, seemingly overwhelming challenges, bad decisions – made ostensibly in the service of addressing very real problems – distract our focus and set back our chances for real resolution. Bad decisions have us hunting butterflies when we should be chasing bears.

www.samigration.com

Denmark moves closer to sending asylum seekers to Rwanda

Denmark moves closer to sending asylum seekers to Rwanda

22/9/2022 News 24 21

Denmark has signed a deal with Rwanda to move the Nordic country closer to setting up an asylum centre outside the EU to reduce the number of people seeking refuge. Picture: Boxer Ngwenya

Cape Town - A deal with Rwanda would make Denmark the first EU member to effectively bypass the bloc’s fragmented migration and asylum system, say immigration analysts.

Denmark has signed a deal with Rwanda to move the Nordic country closer to setting up an asylum centre outside the EU to reduce the number of people seeking refuge.

The two countries declared a “joint ambition to collaborate on asylum and that they will set up a mechanism that could transfer seekers to Rwanda from Denmark”, according to a statement published by the government in Copenhagen on Friday, Bloomberg reported.

In June, Denmark passed a law enabling it to process asylum seekers outside Europe, drawing anger from human rights advocates, the UN and the European Commission.

Denmark passed the law with 70 lawmakers voting in favour and 24 against.

The legislation will complicate the EU’s efforts to overhaul Europe’s fragmented migration and asylum rules, an extremely divisive subject within the bloc, Reuters reported.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive, questioned the law’s compatibility with Denmark’s international obligations.

“External processing of asylum claims raises fundamental questions about both the access to asylum procedures and effective access to protection,” commission spokesperson Adalbert Jahnz said.

In August, the Danish government announced the opening of a project office in Rwanda's capital Kigali as part of the Nordic country’s plan to eventually set up an asylum centre in the East African nation.

“Denmark and Rwanda share a wish to help more refugees better than today and to fight irregular and life-threatening migration, including across the Mediterranean,” Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek said in a statement issued by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

“Our shared goal is to reform the current, flawed asylum system and ensure a dignified and sustainable future for refugees and migrants. I am therefore pleased that we will soon be able to open an office in Rwanda,” he added.

www.samigration.com

Denmark moves closer to sending asylum seekers to Rwanda

Denmark moves closer to sending asylum seekers to Rwanda

22/9/2022 News 24 21